Uber Eats driver denied bond in shooting

Robert Bivines faces charges of murder and aggravated assault.

An Uber Eats driver accused of fatally shooting a recent Morehouse College graduate was denied bond in court Tuesday.

Robert Bivines had been with the delivery company for a week when Atlanta police say he shot and killed 30-year-old Ryan Thornton late Saturday. Bivines, 36, faces murder and aggravated assault charges.

Police said he and Thornton got into an altercation outside Thornton’s Buckhead condominium before the shooting.

“The victim went down to meet the driver, received his order and began walking away from the vehicle,” Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said in a statement. “As the victim was walking away, it appears words may have been exchanged between he and the delivery driver.”

Thornton went back to Bivines’ car and that’s when things turned deadly.

Atlanta police said four shots were fired through the passenger-side window. Bullets struck Thornton’s torso.

As Thornton fell to the ground, Bivines drove away in his white Volkswagen, police said.

Thornton was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Thornton graduated from Morehouse in May 2017 with a political science degree and had recently started a new job, a spokeswoman for the school, D. Aileen Dodd, said in a statement. While there, he worked closely with those in the admissions office, where workers described him as “friendly, hard-working and determined to become a Morehouse Man.”

Bivines, accompanied by his lawyer, surrendered to police Monday afternoon. Attorney Jackie Patterson said his client shot in self-defense.

Patterson told Channel 2 Action News that Thornton was upset about the delivery time, threatened his client and motioned toward his pockets.

“My client had no choice but to defend himself,” he said.

In court Tuesday, Bivines got emotional as a judge told him she could not give him bond.

“This is the lowest point of his life,” Patterson said of his client, “but I told him to hold on, a change will be coming.”

Bivines’ next court appearance is March 6.

In 2010, Bivines had been arrested on aggravated assault charges in DeKalb County, according to jail records.

But the nearly decade-old offense wouldn’t have been flagged by Uber’s pre-screening process because it only tracks criminal records as far back as seven years, according to the company’s website.

Potential employees are subject to a driving history screening, and, if cleared, undergo a criminal background check in national, state and local databases, according to the Uber website.

“We are shocked and saddened by this senseless act of violence and our hearts go out to (Thornton’s) friends and family,” Uber Eats said in a statement. “We have been working with the Atlanta Police Department.”